My neighbors given me his Ferret

[droid 11]

Ferretone is an expensive con.

 

Olive oil or veg oil works just as well.

[Guest sph1979]

Give the ferret to me and i will put it down next doors trousers to keep him quiet

[loulove1 0]

It sonds like diet is the problem to me, wet cat food is no good for ferrets as does not contain enough protein and contains far to much water. what else does your ferrets diet contain as this can make a lot of difference to the temperament of the animal???

 

A dry meat based cat food is much better for them topped up with 25grams of meat or doc on alternative days, you should also add vitamins to their food. Once the ferrets is less worried about eating it will relax around you and will become easyier to handle.

 

When I first sarted keeping ferrets I was told to feed on wet dog food and breed & milk as that was standerd practise back then but I encountered many problems with this diet, yours being one of them.

 

Darren

[joe14 98]

this is the paste you can get from pets at home

http://www.petsathome.com/find/keyword-is-...roduct-is-17695

[bullmastiff 615]

It sonds like diet is the problem to me, wet cat food is no good for ferrets as does not contain enough protein and contains far to much water. what else does your ferrets diet contain as this can make a lot of difference to the temperament of the animal???

 

A dry meat based cat food is much better for them topped up with 25grams of meat or doc on alternative days, you should also add vitamins to their food. Once the ferrets is less worried about eating it will relax around you and will become easyier to handle.

 

When I first sarted keeping ferrets I was told to feed on wet dog food and breed & milk as that was standerd practise back then but I encountered many problems with this diet, yours being one of them.

 

Darren

 

It was a vet that told me to use tins of cat food! he said if you can afford it, go for the dry ferret food if not, tins of cat food will be fine??? she also gets whatevers left of rabbits, crows, pigeons etc With Rabbits I take the loin, and back legs, the dogs get the front legs and the Ferret gets the skin, head and lights. with Pigeons I strip off the breast and the rest goes into the Ferret. Crows, jackdaws etc are fed whole to the ferret. On a Sunday she also gets a bowl of watered down milk, and a raw egg to play with.

 

Joe14 - That stuff works out at £39 a kilo!!!

 

Cheers

 

Luke.

Edited July 19, 2009 by bullmastiff

[lurcher lass 9]

i haven't read the other comments just your post purely as i'm about to go out with the dog, will have a good read tomorrow, i am sorry no badness is meant to anyone xxx

 

in regards to ferret nipping it tis difficult at first but as you say once ye get used to the ferret nipping it doesn't hurt that much! i would suggest to alter the diet introduce some more raw meat and ferret biscuts, cat food of any discription has the incorrect levels of protein, and get into a routine of feeding at certain time/times of the day, leave the ferret be to eat her food as they are private animals but have another set time of the day to handle the ferret, not for any particular reason just to hold by the shoulders and stroke back tummy and back legs calmly just chatting randomness,,every second day or so take the ferret out of hutch handle as normal and after wards feed raw egg and milk mix as a reward, even if you've been nipped but it means you'll be assosiated with positive outcomes

recall of the ferret comes with bond, my hob comes hopping up to me when i whistle for the dog!

 

best of luck with your ferret mate and good on you for taking it on

 

hope this helps all the best x

Edited July 19, 2009 by lurcher lass

[Coneytrappr 30]

I would add more rabbit to her diet mate, there's not really much meat on the head of a bunny. Try her on an entire front end and see how goes.

[Fat-Ferret 857]

Don't know if this helps, but worked for me with my first ferret, was mental. I had bites up and down my hands and wrists for weeks. Then I tried this, put a little milk into a jar lid or something wee and set it down for ferret to drink. When it does that, pour some into your cupped hand and let it dribk. Stroke it etc and it should come round quickly, worked for me and that ferret only bitten me once sine then, but that was me lifting her from a burrow in a hurry. This was a method I read somewhere that old ferreters used in old days.

 

I personally don't like using gloves with animals as you can't feel right and don't have control over things. Although I have met a couple of budgies that you'd need a gauntlet on to handle haha

 

 

I bet you that was the Hob you gave me!!

[bullx 12]

I WOULD PUT PLENTY OF MUSTARD ON MY FINGERS AND LET THE FCUKER BITE ME AND THEN I WOULD STICK MY FINGERS DOWN HIS THROAT,IT HAS WORKED FOR ME FOR MANY YEARS,AND IT HAS STOPPED ALL THE BITERS,

 

NOTHING WORSE THAN TRYING TO PICK UP A FERRET WITHOUT HIM BITING YOU

[loulove1 0]

It sonds like diet is the problem to me, wet cat food is no good for ferrets as does not contain enough protein and contains far to much water. what else does your ferrets diet contain as this can make a lot of difference to the temperament of the animal???

 

A dry meat based cat food is much better for them topped up with 25grams of meat or doc on alternative days, you should also add vitamins to their food. Once the ferrets is less worried about eating it will relax around you and will become easyier to handle.

 

When I first sarted keeping ferrets I was told to feed on wet dog food and breed & milk as that was standerd practise back then but I encountered many problems with this diet, yours being one of them.

 

Darren

 

It was a vet that told me to use tins of cat food! he said if you can afford it, go for the dry ferret food if not, tins of cat food will be fine??? she also gets whatevers left of rabbits, crows, pigeons etc With Rabbits I take the loin, and back legs, the dogs get the front legs and the Ferret gets the skin, head and lights. with Pigeons I strip off the breast and the rest goes into the Ferret. Crows, jackdaws etc are fed whole to the ferret. On a Sunday she also gets a bowl of watered down milk, and a raw egg to play with.

 

Joe14 - That stuff works out at £39 a kilo!!!

 

Cheers

 

Luke.

 

well the vet you spoke to was wrong on the wet cat food, it really is no good for them. Some people will tell you that dry cat food is also no good and that only a dry ferret food is to be used but I went down to longleight safari park a while back and the vets down their said they had carried out studys on the ferrets for some years. they said that the ferrets had lived longer on the dry cat food. This is however toped up with 25grams of meat or a day old chick on alternative days. They also feed a vitamin supplyment and I have to say that the ferrets they had were very healthy looking and when I picked a couple of them up they were solid muscle.

 

Obviously it is up to every one what they feed their ferrets and I am only telling you my findins as other ferret keepers have different ideas of what constitutes a healthy ferret diet.

 

Going back to the orignal problem with your ferret, what you had described sounds like a problem I have had in the past and the diet was to blame. Once I had approached this issue by adding and changing what the ferrets diet contained I had a great improvement in the manner of the ferret.

 

Egg is fine once a week and I try to feed a cats milk a couple of times a week.

 

 

best of luck

 

Darren

[WILF 46,218]

Shoot It!

[stones 23]

A method that I've found to work even with feral (lost) ferrets that I've come across (to date I've found three and they were all like wild alley cats !) is to withdraw all liquids for a few hours so the ferret is thirsty,then offer it some milk (I know ferrets shouldn't be given milk but they'll go for it everytime before water) and keep picking it up/stroking it, all the ferret will want to do is get back to it's milk, it won't be bothered about being handled and after a few sessions of this treatment you should find the ferret will become hand tame and easily handled.